What are your pet peeves re English usage?

A-googlin' and a-wassailing I did go, and found

http://www.christmas-time.com/hollyivy.htm

which mentions symbolism of the plants.

Hey, Piffka! Where have you been hiding??

My pet peeve re English usage is that I am seeing so many mistakes made so constantly that I am beginning to become confused myself.


I only just caught a "their" instead of a "there" in a post the other day and I used a possessive its with an apostrophe.


I'm falling apart!



Soon, it wil come to "they're" instead of "their" and I will have to shoot myself.

McTag -- Thanks for your efforts... and for an interesting website. What I wonder is whether there were other verses about the ivy, but they were dropped, maybe because they were pagan?

Why name the song, The Holly and The Ivy, and then only extol the virtues of the Holly? It makes no sense to this poor westerner.


Merry Andrew -- Hi! I've been here and there. There were good reasons last year that I got too busy for a2k and then several times I tried to post and could not get through. Three or four times burnt, I became a little shy. Just now, everything is going swimmingly except that I double-posted, drat it.

And how are you? Is everyone okay? Have I missed much?


Dlowan -- I also find myself making terrible mistakes. I've got a birthday creeping up so, I'm blaming the aging process. For you though, I'm sure it is those rotten others (whom we won't name) forcing you to read their bad usage. If I've made a mistake here, then I heartily apologize and hope you overlook and don't repeat it.

Yes, Piffka, I missed you a lot...

Oh! That is so sweet, thank you, Francis. And I, you. That's why I'm back.

Piffka, I missed you, too!

D'Artagnan!!! Tthanks, that's so kind of you to say! I feel loved!!! And I missed you, too. Whenever I was in Seattle, I'd think, I could be passing you in the street and never know it. I was there most recently for one of the Taj Mahal shows at J.Alley. How are you?

I've had my ups and downs, Piffka, and now live in the Rose City!

Will you people stop slapping each other on the back, and let's have some irascibility and peeves! :wink:

C'mon over here and let me slap you. Don't you find it extremely irritating when people co-opt a2k threads that are supposed to be about peevish things and instead start chattering about this and that?? Honestly!!!!

I have to say, McTag, despite your best efforts, the answer for the Holly & the Ivy is not yet answered to my satisfaction. Do the Brits have other Christmas Carols where something is mentioned in the title and then never sung about? Maybe, as a people, you just make a habit of this. Where's Clary, maybe she'd know.

- - - - -
D'A -- Well, I'll quit imagining you around every corner of the Market, then. Portland, huh? That's a good place. I love their Japanese Gardens and you're lots closer to those gorgeous ocean beaches. How do you like it?

Well I did ask in my answer, "Is that what you asked?"

It's not very clear to me at the moment what the question is. Something mentioned in the title and then not sung about? I don't think so. You could say, the Coventry Carol does not mention Coventry.

No, I think it's an anomaly. Maybe there was an "ivy" verse which has got lost. Maybe as the site suggested, "Holly and Ivy" were always mentioned together as symbols of male and female (and man embraces woman). Maybe I should stop writing about things I know little about. :wink:

Oh, go ahead. I suppose the Coventry Carol was written in Coventry?

This is all I'll say, and then I promise to stop. Say I had a song named Jack and Jill and the verses were along the lines of:

Jack and Jill, Jack and Jill.
Jack did this.

Jack and Jill, Jack and Jill.
Jack did this.

Jack and Jill, Jack and Jill.
Jack did this.

You see? You'd wonder, after a bit, what was Jill about. If ithe song is only going to be what's up with Jack, then why even mention Jill? Silly, I know. I'll drop it. I think it must part of the great unknowable and likely of pagan origins, so the verses had to be dropped to keep everyone safe.

How's Scotland? You been there lately? Wasn't #1 son living in E'burgh? My daughter lives in what we call E'burg, but that's a small town in this state.

There are no Ivy verses?

Let's write one:

Oh, the holly is a bushy tree
Which, when it dies, turns brown
And The Ivy is a restaurant
To be found in London Town

Right. No ivy verses. Weird, huh?

I like your idea though...

Oh the holly has some prickles
And the ivy is all vine.
The holly stands alone, apart
While on the great oak ivy climbs.




(The Ivy is a restaurant? Is it any good?)

I think you are all very immature and childish

not like the british thread

Hi piffka good to see you

how is bombaybay?

Hi Steve!

<hanging> Bombaybay is still tidally tidy and doing quite well. How are you? Do you have any special feelings about ivy vs holly? Are you enjoying Christmas spirit, yet?

xxpiff

When I was waking up this morning, which wasn't early, I thought of a few more lines to the carol. Unfortunately I haven't forgotten them yet:


The holly is a green bush,
Which, when it dies, turns brown
And The Ivy is a restaurant
You will find in London Town

Oh, the rising of the gorge and the running of the tum
And the playing of the merry hell, when through the door bills come

The Ivy serves you victuals
If you have got the cash
From an extensive bill of fare
Where you won't find beans or hash

and hi piff and hi mcpoet

i posted very interesting post some time ago

now lost in cyberspace

anyway mctaggsish dont give up the day job

Bummer about the post, Steve. Is it lost for good, or lost & you can search for it? Is it just me or is a2k a little slower than it used to be... a little balkier?

We've had high winds here in the PNW and have lost power a couple of days and had some of those scary blink-outs. I thought my computer might be fried, but I fiddled (and fiddled and fiddled) and got it working again. (Yay for me.)

Oh the Ivy smells so pretty
In the summer when it's warm
But the Holly pricks so badly
It's a tree with limited charm.

Oh the Holly's made of strong wood
And returns even if its shorn;
But the ivy's wood is most like rope
And grows as fast as corn.

Oh the Holly's not a bramble,
But the fairies like it best.
And the ivy grows all over
Sometimes it's called a pest.